Entries By dave hahn

Sunday, August 27, 2023 - 7:56 am PT

Big Day!  And night.  We were awake at 11 PM sharp last night.  Thankfully, it was calm and not too cold at 15,200 ft at that hour.  We geared up, ate a quick “breakfast” and got walking at 12:05 AM.  Everybody else at Barafu Camp did so too.  It was a great parade of headlights converging on the steep start to the route.  Naiman led our team nice and steady through various teams that were stopping and starting to deal with difficulties.  Once we were through the rocky start to the route, the walking got a little easier and one could pay a little attention to the stars and the lights of Moshi and other towns and cities.  The moon was about half full and threw back some useful light for us.  As expected, it got cold as we got a few hours into the climb.  By the halfway point we pretty much had every scrap of clothing on.  Water bottles within our packs were freezing up.  Our main strategy for dealing with the cold was to keep moving.  We hit Stella Point at the crater rim at 6AM.  The walking got easier then… and absolutely beautiful as the light came up.  Sunrise came as we were halfway to Uhuru -the highest point.  We got to Uhuru at 7 AM.  It was a little cold and breezy at 19,341 ft above sea level and so we didn’t stay long.  Long enough for some victorious pics with the big sign board up there.  The breeze/wind motivated us to move down the mountain at a pretty good clip, boot skiing in the scree.  We were back to Barafu at 10:10 AM.  Tosha presented us with a pizza brunch and we had some time for taking care of ourselves and packing up.  Nobody was all that psyched at the prospect of four more hours on our feet to descend 5,000 ft but we got after it anyway.  We made it down to a 10,000 ft camp in the woods by 3:35 PM.  The team is safe and relieved to be back on flat ground (everything at high camp is tilted) and so happy to be breathing oxygen rich air with actual humidity again. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was a pretty start to the day down at Karanga Camp. There were just enough clouds around to make the sunrise colorful, but not enough clouds to make us worry about the weather. It was calm and clear when we walked uphill just after 8 AM. The path upward was an easy one, on broad open slopes. Our gang had no trouble matching Naiman’s pace and in just a few hours we were going up the final, slightly steeper, slopes to Barafu Camp. As fast as we were, our support crew was faster still and we moved into a fine camp and took shelter from the strong midday sun in our tents.  Tosha served up a great lunch and then the team sat for a detailed meeting about the big climb and how to prepare for it. This all left plenty of time for resting through the afternoon in preparation for our “alpine start” tonight. In s few minutes we will chow down on an early dinner at 5 o’clock… Spaghetti! And then we will go to bed before the sun sets at 6:30.

We’ve got big plans for the night!

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

It was a beautiful morning down in the Barranco Valley, but we were excited to get out of there and get on the Great Barranco Wall. 

We began walking at 8:00 am in the cool shadow of the wall. The weather pattern of the past few days continued, it was clear up high and cloudy down below and where we were, there was no wind. And thankfully, there were not too many other people trying to get up the wall when we were. This made it a little less stressful to figure out the handholds and footholds when the going got steep. Our team cruised through the tough parts with some fine coaching and spotting from Naiman, Philibit, Freddy and Thomas. We took a short break when we hit the easier going in the sunny midsection of the “wall” and then pressed on. At about 14,000 ft we pulled over one last edge and found ourselves atop the Great Wall. And even better, we found that our camp waiters had beaten us to the top with tea and snacks. We lounged in the sun, took photos and enjoyed the unreal views of Kibo’s imposing south face. 

We then cruised through a couple of shallow -- but pretty -- valleys as we moved east. The final challenge of the day was to get down one steep side of the Karanga Valley and up the other steep side to Karanga Camp. The team had no difficulty though and we came into our new camp at 13,200 ft at about 12:30 pm. 

We had an excellent lunch -- Tosha’s specialty pork schnitzel -- and some welcome hours of rest. Clouds formed up in the afternoon and we were actually thankful to get a little relief from the high altitude sun cooking the tent walls. We finished with dinner and storytelling and stars (as the clouds dissipated). There is s lot of excitement among our climbers at the prospect of getting to high camp tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Perfect weather today! Not terribly cold at 6:15 AM today in the shadow of Kilimanjaro.  Clear skies above and the sea of clouds far below. 

We were eating another of Tosha’s fine breakfasts by 7 AM and walking behind Philbet by 8 AM.  The terrain rose gradually as we headed straight East toward Kibo.  We began breaking a bunch more altitude records for our climbers as the morning progressed.  We topped out for the day at 15,200 ft at the Lava Tower, right up against the massive ramparts of Kibo.  Our excellent staff had a picnic lunch all set up for us there and so we lounged for some time in the intense sunshine.  Then we began dropping altitude as we made our way into the Barranco Valley.  Lava tower had taken us into alpine desert zones with little vegetation, but over the two hours of our descent, we came back into a relatively lush zone full of endemic Lobelias and Senecios. 

At 3 PM we came into our new home at 13,000 ft.  This allowed plenty of time for an easy afternoon of resting and recuperating.  We’ve still got an excellent dinner and some star gazing to look forward to… and a big day of climbing tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Wednesday, August 23, 2023 - 10:00 am PT

Good weather and good walking brought us up to 12,500 ft today. When we woke at 6:15 the clouds had sunk way below our 10,000 ft camp to form a uniform surface.  Above it was crystal clear and we could see Kibo, Kilimanjaro’s central peak, with its great cliffs and ice fields.  We ate a full breakfast and got walking at 8 AM with our lead guide, Naiman, taking a turn out front.  Immediately, the track was steeper than what we’d done yesterday.  Like a giant staircase in the giant heather.  After about 90 minutes we were on a ridge crest, still climbing, but now with big views all around us.  We got off the ridge at nearly 12,000 ft and began traversing toward the North.  The team didn’t slow down or hesitate when it came to putting hands on rock for some steeper sections.  We saw our first Giant Senecios -cactus like trees which are only found on Kilimanjaro- before we turned a last corner onto the Shira Plateau.  The final few minutes into camp were easy downhill walking.  We made it in under five hours to this westernmost point of our journey.  Tosha had a fine lunch for us in the dining tent and we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging and rehydrating.  The sun setting in the clouds and peaks of Shira was beautiful as we moved toward dinner.  But the stars when we came out were even more spectacular. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, August 22, 2023 - 7:47 am PT

Everything went just like clockwork today for the start of our adventure.  We were up early, eating breakfast and shuffling duffels at Rivertrees Inn.  We actually drove away to start the climb several minutes before the 8 AM intended launch.  Ninety minutes in the bus brought us to the Machame gate of Kilimanjaro National Park.  At 6000 ft, this was to be our starting point.  Inevitably there was a little time spent getting the team permit paperwork finished, and some time spent getting porter loads sorted.  But we were able to start walking through the forest a little after 10:30 AM, not bad at all.  Freddy, one of our longtime local guides led today’s charge up the hill. We began with a gradual climb on a road, which eventually turned into a trail upward through the rainforest.  We considered ourselves lucky to have a fair bit of blue sky and sunshine for the first day, which is very often spent under or within thick clouds.  As well, we seemed to be a few hours ahead of most other teams which meant that the track through the woods was pretty peaceful.  We took several breaks to eat snacks and drink tea, but we kept at the hard work of gaining altitude and by 3:30 we’d reached Machame Camp at 10,000 ft.  Our amazing staff had our camp built and ready for us to move in when we arrived.  We only had to clean up and show up in the dining tent for tea time.  Easy.  Tosha, our world class chef is serving up dinner at 6:30 and the team is anxious to enjoy a good meal, see some southern hemisphere stars and get a good night’s rest. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Our climbing team came together in the last couple of days.  We got seven folks and their baggage through a bunch of airports and airlines all the way to Kilimanjaro International Airport.  And as of yesterday, we had the team, plus one guide, all assembled at The Rivertrees Inn in Usa River, Tanzania.  Today we got into the business of final preparations for the mountain.  We talked through the program and our priorities on the climb.  We went over schedules and logistics and expected difficulties.  And then we did gear checks (which everybody passed with flying colors). And finally, after folks had gotten packed up, we did the all important weigh-in to be certain nobody would be overloaded on the mountain.  The work done, we relaxed around a campfire and ate a fine dinner in the Rivertrees garden.  Tomorrow we climb!

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The team rallied for a pre-dawn start at Lolkisale Camp. We were escorted from our tent cabins so as not to lose anyone to predators. We ate breakfast as the light came up on the vast wilderness surrounding camp.

As we drove back into the mix of animals, trees, rocks, grassland and riverbeds we had high hopes of spotting the leopards and cheetahs that had been eluding us thus far.  We saw a million more beautiful things this morning… but not the big cats. Something left for future safaris. By midday, this one was winding down as we headed east toward Arusha. The team was happy to get back to the familiar ground of Rivertrees Inn to have a chance to clean up and repack for extended travel. Inevitably, we started having to say goodbye to one another as we began a last migration to Kilimanjaro International Airport.

It seemed hard to believe that the project our team had been dedicated to for years -raising funds for the American Lung Association- and then actually climbing Kili for clean air- that it could all be coming to a conclusion… but of course our ambitious climbers were heard to be hatching dozens of new goals and challenges for the coming years. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & The ALA Climb for Clean Air Team

It was another cool and cloudy morning in the highlands where we woke up, but as we descended into the rift valley again, it got warmer and drier. We stopped for some souvenir/gift shopping and then made the move toward Tarangire National Park. We entered just before noon, weaving between giant baobab trees scarred by elephant tusks. Immediately we began seeing wildlife… impalas, zebra, wildebeest… first in ones and twos, then by the hundreds. Eventually we mixed in elephants and giraffes and seemingly everything else. 

Tarangire is a vast land of animals. From horizon to horizon. Our seasoned safari team spotted two impressive lions that no one else had managed to find. We spent the day marveling at elephant families and birds of all sizes and flavors. We searched high and low for cheetahs and leopards… but (so far) without success. By sunset we were sitting around a fire just outside the park boundary in a “tent camp” still spotting wildlife from our chairs. It is our final night as a team. As the first few stars began to show, we shared a spontaneous and appropriate few minutes of silence… and then we burst into laughter and conversation and eventually storytelling. 

Leopards in the morning.

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Ngorongoro Crater was worth getting up early for. We were on the road by 6:30 AM. It was cloudy and as we climbed up to the rim of the old collapsed volcano, we were in thick fog.  This did not prevent us from seeing a handful of elephants in the forest up there though.

Our first hours in the “crater” were actually a little cool and drizzly, but we were seeing abundant wildlife and so we didn’t really care.  We saw everything from Cape Buffalo to Jackals. The giant herds of Zebra and Wildebeest were a big hit. During the course of the day, we crisscrossed the valley floor and saw eight lions (beating yesterday’s total). We got to see a number of happy hippopotamus pile-ups in the mud and shallow waters. 

By mid-afternoon we were climbing out of the bowl to visit a Maasai village on the crater rim. We danced with the villagers, and they showed us some of their traditional methods for building fires and living in the wild.  The team got back to the Plantation Lodge in time for a sunset swim in the pool before dinner.

Tarangire tomorrow!

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team